[Server-sky] Orbital alignment for cubesat experiment

[Jonathan "Duke" Leto]

Howdy,

I have a background in analyzing nonlinear (possibly
infinite-dimensional) dynamical system systems [0], so I would love to
see the actual governing equations along with all the "reasonable"
value ranges for important constants in the equations.

With that info, I can give you a mathematicians opinion :)

Duke

[0] http://duke.leto.net/outline.html



On Fri, Jul 12, 2013 at 1:52 PM, Keith Lofstrom <keithl at kl-ic.com> wrote:
> Thinsats are mostly pushed antisunwards by light pressure;
> tilting a thinsat adds less than 8% lateral acceleration.
>
> Thinsat experiments in a drag-matched cubesat container
> will be brief ( a few minutes ) when the sun angle is
> co-linear with the orbit, so that the drag on the cubesat
> pushes it in the same direction as the thinsat.
>
> Given the high inclination ISS orbit (51.6°), this only
> happens during the sunward or antisunward parts of the orbit,
> at times of year when the longitude of the ascending node
> of the ISS orbit is sunwards or antisunwards.  The ascending
> node precesses because of the earth's equatorial bulge - I
> haven't done the calculations yet.
>
> At other times and in other parts of the orbit, the vectors
> don't line up, and experiment times will be limited to the
> traverse time of the experimental chamber.  At 8 cm/minute²
> from light pressure, that won't be long!
>
> I may find time in a week or two to put some detailed calculations
> on the wiki, but it would be great if someone else beat me to it.
> It would be really useful to find some historical data on the
> precession of the ascending node for ISS, or do the calculation.
>
> The limits on launch time may be too restrictive for most cubesat
> opportunities.
>
> Keith
>
> --
> Keith Lofstrom          keithl at keithl.com         Voice (503)-520-1993
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-- 
Jonathan "Duke" Leto <jonathan at leto.net>
Leto Labs LLC http://letolabs.com
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